Unit Dose and Blister Packaging

My son came home and informed me of a field trip he was going on to the unit dose packaging and blister packaging plant that is in town. I was thrilled and signed up to go as a parent volunteer. I was so curious to how they put these pack together with a machine system and wanted to see for myself. As I waited for the day of the field trip, I researched all about the unit dose packaging machines that we would be shown on the tour. They were fascinating to me just reading about them, and I would get to see how the whole system works soon. Without any human labor, these machines packed an allergy medicine into little unit does packages. It was exciting to me when I thought about how we would see a plain piece of plastic and a piece of foil turned into a blister package by a big machine. When we finally made it to the factory, the kids and myself were so excited. First the tour began with some medical professionals teaching us about the allergy medicine that would go into the unit dose packaging system. At the factory they were doing stock blister packaging which is a bunch of packs being packaged at once for a huge shipment. This makes it easier to ship and purchase the blister packs. This certain allergy medication will be sent out to pharmacies and grocery stores so that consumers can purchase them over the counter. The unit dose packaging machine will also make little sample packages. When the medical professionals were done with their little speech about the allergy medication, they handed out empty unit dose packages to the children. This let them see and feel what blister packaging is like and have something to take home with them. All the kids punched through the foil and could see where the pill would have been in the unit dose packaging container. The children were able to see how important unit dose packaging and blister packaging is to the pharmacies and how much we use this type of packaging. We then moved to a different room where the unit dose packaging and blister packaging machines were and this was the children's favorite part. It was so fun to watch the plastic sheets feed into the machine. Then we watched long pieces of foil go into the machine. The foil pieces is the backing and the label for the medication. We watched as the allergy pills were dropped into the plastic cases in their little slots. Then the finished blister package slid out of the other side of the machine all finished. The packs were then placed into a box to be shipped to it's proper destination and sold to consumers. The process was very cool to watch with the young children. Watching the unit dose packaging and blister packaging machines suck in plastic and spit out a finished blister pack was fascinating. The machines are very fast and efficient, not needing any humans to do any work. The children loved all the parts moving and thought the machine system looked like a robot. They also thought it was very cool that the machine was working on its own without anybody doing anything but turning the machine on.

When the medical professionals were done with their little speech about the allergy medication, they handed out empty unit dose packages to the children. This let them see and feel what blister.... Learn more at Unit Dose Packaging and dose packaging systems